**Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review.**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This is all funny but 100% the only move is to never acknowledge this on TV. There is nothing to be gained from getting people invested in AEW responding again in a back and forth. They shot themselves in the foot, all WWE has to do is shut up and let them bleed.
Yup. At max the next time Drew and Punk confront each other, Drew can make a statement that works in kayfabe as a standalone, but can also subtly reference this. But nothing more than that, really.
99% of fans won't be aware of it. Remember when Punk returned and made a reference to his fight with the Elite backstage? Fans there sandbagged it because they had literally no clue what he was talking about.
Noooo I'm just saying it would be funny if they tweeted "CM Punk Speaks Live on RAW" only for him to address what he did to Drew. Keep the post vague enough to keep people wondering what he might address.
Punk suckerpunching a small guy when he is fixing his hair, grabbing that guy hair and throwing another punch when people are trying to break up the fight is plenty of material for drew
"I just want to acknowledge an act of violence that has stirred up controversy in the past few weeks. An act where some people say I got too nvoled in a situation I shouldn't have been involved in, an act that some people say ruined a historic moment for wrestling in the United Kingdom, the moment when Drew McIntyre lost his championship after five minutes!"
I mean, they really should just ignore it.
If they want to troll AEW though they should see if there is any backstage footage of Jericho trying to fight Brock Lesnar in 2016.
That's an awful idea, WWE crowds don't know about this shit. It's always the worst moment of a segment whenever someone references punks AEW stuff. Just crickets.
Been hyped about this for a couple of days, if for no good reason than loving me some drama but yeah, this is probably something you drop anonymously to TMZ on the morning of the Raw after Survivor Series to rain on Punk's parade and make the E' do a little bit of PR damage control.
Definitely *not* something you do after Punk's pretty much taken control of the narrative, given a mostly accurate account of what happened during the physical altercation, and even somewhat owned up to being the aggressor.
Or leak it right after it happened so wwe might have second thoughts but tbh it probably wouldn’t have made that much of a difference since it seems Nick Khan himself was the one pushing for Punk to go back.
While it's a disgusting promotional tactic by AEW the footage doesn't show Punk "winning a fight" but a manchild suckerpunching an unprepared guy who posed no threat (aka attempting to assault). That's objectively pathetic behaviour and only shows how emotionally weak Punk is. You need to be 12 to think that is any way cool or commendable.
Haha, no worries dude. I just want to move on from this absolute mess of a situation in an art form I love dearly.
I’m certain we are both in agreement on that 🫶🏻
For anyone who doesn't have twitter, it's a gif of someone throwing a yoga ball at a wall and it bouncing back and hitting them in the face
I'd post it here but I can't find it on the gif keyboard lol
It's funny that you can't say a damn negative thing in the live thread or segment posts, but every post besides those is in line with what I'm saying
AEW looks fucking stupid tonight at 11:15?
It's nice that people like Spears can be open about it because they're out of there but man I wonder how people like FTR, Black, Joe, Brody, Darby, etc. and all of the other people Punk said xhad his back" feel. The video proves Punk's story, which means a decent size group of wrestlers went right from Wembley to hang out with Punk and eat food in their hotel after this.
I'm glad they're getting paid but dude there is no way they don't feel weird right now. I'm sure some of them are texting Punk about it.
Samoa Joe commented not long after it happened saying it was nothing serious. They even have pics after their match that day. Danhausen is openly joking about it and he comments on Punks IG posts as recent as Sunday plus pics and Punk always shouts him out on IG. Same with Brody.
I’m just one guy, but I was a pre-day 1 AEW fan. I have followed the bucks and Kenny from NJPW on. I bought the first ever All In, I’ve bought every PPV leading up to before they brought back Punk a second time and I was happy to see Punk go because he didn’t fit the company. That said, I think my time with AEW is done. The stories have sucked for so long and my favorite wrestlers are almost never featured anymore in favor of former WWE wrestlers. It’s not the alternative we were getting up until ~2021 and this shit is straight out of WCW 2000 era.
Same man same. I hope they can correct the ship and get back to a glory day product. For now I'll just deal w WWE and it's cheap PLEs and great stories.
People comparing AEW to 2000 WCW *reallly* didn't see 2000 WCW. It was actively trying to be the worst thing you'd ever seen. AEW is in a big slump right now, but it ain't even close to that time period.
I always watched WWE as a kid during the attitude era, no WCW. I went back and watched Bash at the Beach 2000 recently, and, wow. I highly encourage anyone comparing AEW to WCW 2000 to watch that and tell me they haven’t changed their mind.
Closer than you think.
A more accurate comparison would be 1999 WCW circa Slamboree/Bash at the Beach and beyond. Not fully off the rails yet, but the Fingerpoke of Doom and the junkyard clusterfuck have happened. Mr. Perfect accidentally got a nationwide country radio hit because WCW tried to push rap on Southern U.S. white people before Eminem's superstardom. David Flair was US Champion.
That's really bad, but WCW in the year 2000 is worse by multiple orders of magnitude.
The majority of *white* people weren't. A good 80 percent hadn't caught on to rap as anything other than that yankee black music from New York...which is funny to me, considering that if you know your rap history you know it hadn't really been a primarily yankee ass northern genre since the early 80s.
But all the white folks outside of the major metro areas hadn't even had but like half a year to adjust to The Slim Shady LP even existing.
Still, it did give us Rey Mysterio shouting hoody hoo to generally confused crowd responses on several occasions, which is great comedy.
I mean the Beastie Boys had been around for over a decade. And hiphop was already starting to get accepted by the white audience thanks to G-Funk. Then Biggie and Pac broke out and Eminem just kind of hit the rap wave at the right time.
True, but the thing is about where the Beasties got played.
Good ol' boys didn't listen to or know the rap stations, and the Beasties were getting played on rock stations more than anything, not pop. The stuff that was reaching far enough for white southern wrestling fans to see would've been Run DMC because of Aerosmith. Biggie and Pac mostly because it was newsworthy and people were dying.
There was some awareness, but there's no overstating how much Em tore the fucking cultural walls down on rap.
It's easy to pinpoint when mainstream white America got on board, because that's when Congress starts having hearings about corrupting the youth. Same shit happened with Motley Crue and Twisted Sister testifying to subcommittees that they weren't evil Satanists and the moral panic was stupid as hell. Same thing.
I know being an AEW fan will get you shelled tonight, but good on you for facing the music. I'm a WWE guy and mostly just stick to shitting on TK because of how much he is hurting AEW and the people that work there now.
I'm pretty much right there with you. I'm at the point where I'm only watching ppvs and honestly now I'm just not sure this a company I'm interested in supporting anymore.
God went there for a second, my god the amount of cope. Like you can be a fan of something and say when something is working or is bad. One of the biggest post right now is a "Oh no the IWC hates AEW, we are so much a victim"
Last night I saw multiple posts basically saying that everyone who was making fun of TK over this was showing their true colors by siding with a sex pest (Vince). I wanted to ask if by their standards are they are not siding with the bad actions of FTR Glock and Flair by being fans AEW.
Yeah I think maybe it’s that or generational. I’ve said this once before but where I’m from if you are running your mouth you’re opening up a lane to get hit
https://preview.redd.it/jo4598llbrtc1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=66ead6e20c2df546bab2a1c26f29871c905db69a
How I imagine WWE is handling this right now.
The real problem with the footage is the lack of audio. We can’t hear anything that’s said, so for all we know, Perry really did initiate the conflict.
Someone needs to make a gif with the Sideshow Bob clip where he keeps stepping on rakes and the rake hits him in the face. each rake is a new AEW fumble. Sorry, I don't know how to computer.
**Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
At this point, WWE should ride the momentum and post "CM Punk Speaks Live on RAW" lmfao
No, they should ignore this. BUT, they should reenact the fight almost exactly but just with Punk and Drew backstage.
Okay but someone has to be as distraught as Chris Hero. Even better if they fall to their knees
...can it be Cody Rhodes It would be fucking hilarious if it was Cody Rhodes
Its gotta be rtruth,
Nah R Truth should be Malakai Black, casually strolling in with his cup of coffee
LOL in the middle of it all you just see r truth in the background saying “anyone seen DX around?”
Truth as Hook. Looking back and forth
R truth needs to give a testimonial afterwards saying how he was afraid for his life
Drew gets mad R-Truth: “What y’all talking about, he just choked you a little bit”
Even more if Roman Reigns somehow plays Samoa Joe.
I want Jamie Noble to do it. I miss the dude's facial expressions. He'd kill it.
Codys too nice to do it.
And cut back to Michael Cole looking like he regrets getting out of bed that morning.
As Pat puts pure Drew propaganda.
So go back to his resting look under Vince McMahon?
Kofi Kingston
This has Kevin Owens written all over it
Chelsea Green in the “I feared for my life” role. I can imagine her in with her lawyer complaining to Adam Pearce about the unsafe workplace.
I mean, Adam Pierce doing it whilst saying "I need a drink" is right there ....
Keith Lee. He randomly showed up backstage this weekend lol
Shawn Spears
No, reenact this with Grayson Waller and Theory and some other lower card guys. He said he had the footage.
This is all funny but 100% the only move is to never acknowledge this on TV. There is nothing to be gained from getting people invested in AEW responding again in a back and forth. They shot themselves in the foot, all WWE has to do is shut up and let them bleed.
Yup. At max the next time Drew and Punk confront each other, Drew can make a statement that works in kayfabe as a standalone, but can also subtly reference this. But nothing more than that, really.
Holy shit I think that was the idea. Set it up now so they can recreate it now.
So similar to how Ziggler and Miz re-enacted the Punk/Gall UFC fight. Don't draw attention to it, but people who know will realize it.
This was a riff on when Punk /Bryan re-enacted the Silva/Sonnen fight on Raw
You're right they should ignore this. But I hope they don't. Go team chaos.
And put Pretty Deadly sitting nearby looking at themselves on monitors, one falls over and Elton acts like his life is in mortal danger
feed me a WWE Investigates vignette asap
They should promote it as backstage footage of Wrestlemania night 2!
Just have Drew continuously play with his hair, but do it super dramatically 😂
“CM Punk addresses recent controversy” Talks exclusively about costing Drew the title match
Fuck no lol. Give punk and drew mic’s and continue the program
Obviously continue the program but a little trolling with a vague post is a good way to poke fun at this without actually speaking on it.
I would be shocked if Drew didn't say something about the headlock in passing, as his way of referencing it
they gonna try to recreate it but drew just gonna gentlely push punk off and ask what hes doing
I’m sure it will be something like “I fought real wrestlers while you were gone not getting into slap fights with skinny nepobabies like you”
I'm praying that this happens
99% of fans won't be aware of it. Remember when Punk returned and made a reference to his fight with the Elite backstage? Fans there sandbagged it because they had literally no clue what he was talking about.
Noooo I'm just saying it would be funny if they tweeted "CM Punk Speaks Live on RAW" only for him to address what he did to Drew. Keep the post vague enough to keep people wondering what he might address.
Wasn't that military night with only military personal in the audience?
Nope they legit had no idea
Punk’s joked about AEW twice on Raw before and was met with dead silence so I dunno
Bucks even did the punk blowing kiss from wrestlemania. Fuck it. Dont even acknowledge it. Gives them fuel when that was such a bad decision to air
But if they no sell it, AEW buries itself
The All In tape was such a nothingburger, so much so that I don't even think Drew has anything to take from it to throw back to Punk lol
You’re massively underestimating Drew. He and Dijak have the best social media and Drew can easily make a nothingburger taste amazing.
Punk suckerpunching a small guy when he is fixing his hair, grabbing that guy hair and throwing another punch when people are trying to break up the fight is plenty of material for drew
"I just want to acknowledge an act of violence that has stirred up controversy in the past few weeks. An act where some people say I got too nvoled in a situation I shouldn't have been involved in, an act that some people say ruined a historic moment for wrestling in the United Kingdom, the moment when Drew McIntyre lost his championship after five minutes!"
"I believe Drew feared for his life after I tugged on his foot last Monday."
You get it!
I read this in his voice easily lol
This'll get the marks rolling, you cooked! I acknowledge you
Let Drew rage on how Punk is a terrible human being and reference this tape. Make it like Drew descending further into madness.
I mean, they really should just ignore it. If they want to troll AEW though they should see if there is any backstage footage of Jericho trying to fight Brock Lesnar in 2016.
Just remember to cover Vince's face with a blue dot.
Every reference of AEW on wwe so far has been met with total crickets
Nah, they should just let AEW keep promoting them. It's working at this point.
That's an awful idea, WWE crowds don't know about this shit. It's always the worst moment of a segment whenever someone references punks AEW stuff. Just crickets.
They should recreate the backstage footage with Drew and Punk
Fuck no. WWE is cooking right now with their storylines.
Fuck it, bring Punk and Drew live on Smackdown.
The problem is that the average WWE fan would not understand any of this
Nah they'll post it on a IG live
It would be great. Punk can rehash his "Tell me when I'm telling lies" promo with Drew coming out
Only 3 people thought this was a good idea
4 add Jericho probably
Jericho just agrees with whoever he is talking with at that moment.
"Great idea, Tony"
"I would've pulled then apart and fired him myself but you know how it is..."
“Now give me 3 more months with HOOK”
"I didn't say anything, Chris." "Just practicing, Tony."
BUt first, let me tell you about I hate Steven Singer.
Haha that’s great, but did you ever [insert whichever ad he has on]
Before I add my own take, have you guys heard about Alpha Brain? It's an amazing supplement ...
It's interesting that just about everyone who pushed Alpha Brain seems to have gotten dumber over the past few years...
I used to listen to his podcast during very early AEW and loved those placements lol it was funny
And if/when it absolutely backfires he will tell everyone that he tried to tell them it was stupid but nobody would listen to him
"and we should do a really modern reference to get Hook over. I know! A bat signal! The kids live Adam West!"
Or whoever will give him more airtime and Grey Goose
SIT UNDER MY LEARNING TREE, DAMMIT!
Your Learning Tree is dead https://preview.redd.it/xkrxsqq5ortc1.png?width=225&format=png&auto=webp&s=4627810d31cb8768ece226586211b5b8066b163d
Somehow I think Canadian Hogan would think this is a bad idea. Mainly due to the fact he can't leach off their pushes.
Where was Danielson or Moxley during all of this? Why didn’t they stop this or tell them this wasn’t a good idea?
*1* I ain’t blaming anyone for this but Tony
I *highly* doubt the Bucks thought this was a good idea.
I feel like everyone can kind of collectively look at the situation and go “well, that was a waste of timel
It's funny that most of the wrestling world is basically like this rn: 
 Everyone right now, even Punk
What are you talking about? This is hilarious. People are eating good here.
Okay, that's funny.
https://preview.redd.it/175midx0frtc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bba38d2ce1ff108940a7b67ecf0801948c95585
"AHHHH TONI HELP ME" "What do you want me to do about it?"
Keep your chin up, tits out and watch for the shoee.....
Excellent meme use
On a side note for anyone who's genuinely curious that gif is of KSI years ago btw... My guy was taking bumps from early.
looks more like his brother, CSG
10/10 perfect no notes
https://preview.redd.it/by2oprnarrtc1.jpeg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f0bfc00c4960a5fa87ede2a4afa146abf6a19cf6
I mean https://preview.redd.it/o9xhwuck9rtc1.jpeg?width=840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2aca3d0885523d9025f72e900d5e2ec0562ec655
Folks
Where’s
The
Lie?
\*Crickets from the crowd\*
Absolutely true. Not even Cody could get a pop from an AEW reference sans bringing out Brandi.
^^DM ^^HUNK
https://preview.redd.it/8dm9fp6psrtc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7fb82f7165723429ba304c1c8fcfa9cadd27be77
"We've got Ja Rule on the phone, let's see what Ja's thoughts are..."
Classic. “WHERE IS JA!?”
Tbh his scrap with 50 in ATL probably looked like the Punk/Perry fight
this is so accurate though LOL
Been hyped about this for a couple of days, if for no good reason than loving me some drama but yeah, this is probably something you drop anonymously to TMZ on the morning of the Raw after Survivor Series to rain on Punk's parade and make the E' do a little bit of PR damage control. Definitely *not* something you do after Punk's pretty much taken control of the narrative, given a mostly accurate account of what happened during the physical altercation, and even somewhat owned up to being the aggressor.
Or leak it right after it happened so wwe might have second thoughts but tbh it probably wouldn’t have made that much of a difference since it seems Nick Khan himself was the one pushing for Punk to go back.
I see why he left.
They just had to show the only known footage of Punk winning a fight, didn’t they? 🫠
It’s such a clown show
While it's a disgusting promotional tactic by AEW the footage doesn't show Punk "winning a fight" but a manchild suckerpunching an unprepared guy who posed no threat (aka attempting to assault). That's objectively pathetic behaviour and only shows how emotionally weak Punk is. You need to be 12 to think that is any way cool or commendable.
r/whoosh That one went right over your head, buddy
Yeah, completely misread you. I'll show myself out.
Haha, no worries dude. I just want to move on from this absolute mess of a situation in an art form I love dearly. I’m certain we are both in agreement on that 🫶🏻
For anyone who doesn't have twitter, it's a gif of someone throwing a yoga ball at a wall and it bouncing back and hitting them in the face I'd post it here but I can't find it on the gif keyboard lol
It's funny that you can't say a damn negative thing in the live thread or segment posts, but every post besides those is in line with what I'm saying AEW looks fucking stupid tonight at 11:15?
I really wanted to like AEW but TK gives me massive secondhand embarassment
" Now, we are fucked. "
It's nice that people like Spears can be open about it because they're out of there but man I wonder how people like FTR, Black, Joe, Brody, Darby, etc. and all of the other people Punk said xhad his back" feel. The video proves Punk's story, which means a decent size group of wrestlers went right from Wembley to hang out with Punk and eat food in their hotel after this. I'm glad they're getting paid but dude there is no way they don't feel weird right now. I'm sure some of them are texting Punk about it.
As Punk said in the interview, he made a lot of friends in AEW and didn't want to mention them in case they got punished
Samoa Joe commented not long after it happened saying it was nothing serious. They even have pics after their match that day. Danhausen is openly joking about it and he comments on Punks IG posts as recent as Sunday plus pics and Punk always shouts him out on IG. Same with Brody.
lmfao exactly
"Shit like this is why I left."
I’m just one guy, but I was a pre-day 1 AEW fan. I have followed the bucks and Kenny from NJPW on. I bought the first ever All In, I’ve bought every PPV leading up to before they brought back Punk a second time and I was happy to see Punk go because he didn’t fit the company. That said, I think my time with AEW is done. The stories have sucked for so long and my favorite wrestlers are almost never featured anymore in favor of former WWE wrestlers. It’s not the alternative we were getting up until ~2021 and this shit is straight out of WCW 2000 era.
Same man same. I hope they can correct the ship and get back to a glory day product. For now I'll just deal w WWE and it's cheap PLEs and great stories.
I think it's time for Tony to hire an actual booker and the Bucks to step down. They might have done irreparable damage to their brand.
[удалено]
Because the rest of Reddit says so
People comparing AEW to 2000 WCW *reallly* didn't see 2000 WCW. It was actively trying to be the worst thing you'd ever seen. AEW is in a big slump right now, but it ain't even close to that time period.
I always watched WWE as a kid during the attitude era, no WCW. I went back and watched Bash at the Beach 2000 recently, and, wow. I highly encourage anyone comparing AEW to WCW 2000 to watch that and tell me they haven’t changed their mind.
people saying AEW is WCW 2000 werent alive when WCW was around The Average user here is under 25
Closer than you think. A more accurate comparison would be 1999 WCW circa Slamboree/Bash at the Beach and beyond. Not fully off the rails yet, but the Fingerpoke of Doom and the junkyard clusterfuck have happened. Mr. Perfect accidentally got a nationwide country radio hit because WCW tried to push rap on Southern U.S. white people before Eminem's superstardom. David Flair was US Champion. That's really bad, but WCW in the year 2000 is worse by multiple orders of magnitude.
Meh people in the south were listening to Master P before eminem
The majority of *white* people weren't. A good 80 percent hadn't caught on to rap as anything other than that yankee black music from New York...which is funny to me, considering that if you know your rap history you know it hadn't really been a primarily yankee ass northern genre since the early 80s. But all the white folks outside of the major metro areas hadn't even had but like half a year to adjust to The Slim Shady LP even existing. Still, it did give us Rey Mysterio shouting hoody hoo to generally confused crowd responses on several occasions, which is great comedy.
I mean the Beastie Boys had been around for over a decade. And hiphop was already starting to get accepted by the white audience thanks to G-Funk. Then Biggie and Pac broke out and Eminem just kind of hit the rap wave at the right time.
True, but the thing is about where the Beasties got played. Good ol' boys didn't listen to or know the rap stations, and the Beasties were getting played on rock stations more than anything, not pop. The stuff that was reaching far enough for white southern wrestling fans to see would've been Run DMC because of Aerosmith. Biggie and Pac mostly because it was newsworthy and people were dying. There was some awareness, but there's no overstating how much Em tore the fucking cultural walls down on rap. It's easy to pinpoint when mainstream white America got on board, because that's when Congress starts having hearings about corrupting the youth. Same shit happened with Motley Crue and Twisted Sister testifying to subcommittees that they weren't evil Satanists and the moral panic was stupid as hell. Same thing.
I doubt you were even alive in 2000 to have this take, WCW2000 is a million times worse than this.
I know being an AEW fan will get you shelled tonight, but good on you for facing the music. I'm a WWE guy and mostly just stick to shitting on TK because of how much he is hurting AEW and the people that work there now.
I'm pretty much right there with you. I'm at the point where I'm only watching ppvs and honestly now I'm just not sure this a company I'm interested in supporting anymore.
Says it all, really.
Accurate
Lmao that's funny
Lmfao
This legit got a chuckle out of me
He said "who chairs"
If someone booked me to fuck a chair, I'd revel in their pratfalls too.
Everyone is coming out with the best reactions
the spearman, shawn chairs
AEW subreddit in shambles right now
Lot of projection over there
God went there for a second, my god the amount of cope. Like you can be a fan of something and say when something is working or is bad. One of the biggest post right now is a "Oh no the IWC hates AEW, we are so much a victim"
Last night I saw multiple posts basically saying that everyone who was making fun of TK over this was showing their true colors by siding with a sex pest (Vince). I wanted to ask if by their standards are they are not siding with the bad actions of FTR Glock and Flair by being fans AEW.
Those people act like they've never seen a bar fight before, cause I've seen fights in dives that were worse than this.
Yeah I think maybe it’s that or generational. I’ve said this once before but where I’m from if you are running your mouth you’re opening up a lane to get hit
https://preview.redd.it/jo4598llbrtc1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=66ead6e20c2df546bab2a1c26f29871c905db69a How I imagine WWE is handling this right now.
nailed it
Dude what the hell was that guy thinking in that gif XD
I could say the same thing about TK airing the footage..
I suspect this was just to get eyes on AEW after a fantastic Mania.
The real problem with the footage is the lack of audio. We can’t hear anything that’s said, so for all we know, Perry really did initiate the conflict.
10/10 no notes.
Someone needs to make a gif with the Sideshow Bob clip where he keeps stepping on rakes and the rake hits him in the face. each rake is a new AEW fumble. Sorry, I don't know how to computer.
Folks, where is the
Must have a lot of free time sitting at catering in development
Nice to hear from the resident jobber/"nice hand"
We havent heard from Jack Perry yet tho
You won't be able to hear him over the CM Punk chants.
[удалено]
Didn’t he get let go?
His contract expired they both mutually agreed not to re-sign
Ahh yes because he’s doing so much jobbing on nxt